Jaquet announces retirement
City adopts transportation goal
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Ketchum city administrator Jim Jaquet will retire at the
end of the year.
Jaquet, who has been city administrator for 24 years, said
he wants his retirement to coincide with his 25th anniversary.
"I’ve advised the mayor and the city council that
my 25 years will be up on January of 2002," he said. "If the
mayor and city council want me to stay on while a successor is chosen, I
would be willing to stay on for a few months in 2002, but my goal would be
to retire no later than June of 2002."
Jaquet said he’s enjoyed working on
infrastructure-related projects with the city during his tenure, including
purchase of the city park-and-ride lot and the Forest Service Park.
"Growth should be governed by zoning. It shouldn’t
be governed by infrastructure," he said.
"The other thing that’s been a strong point for me
is the staff at the city. The people who work for the city of Ketchum take
a lot of pride in their work."
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There won’t be more cars entering Ketchum in 2021 than
there are now if the city’s sketch of transportation management tools
works.
The Ketchum City Council unanimously voted Monday to adopt
a resolution that sets the current number of cars entering the city as a
transportation goal to meet 20 years down the road.
The resolution outlines sets of tools—including
incentives for people to carpool and use public transportation and
disincentives for people to drive alone—that the city could implement in
the next five years.
"This is a very important management tool," Wood
River Rideshare director Beth Callister told the council. "It’s
important not to interpret the number as a cut-off, but as a gauge."
The number, Callister and others pointed out, will let the
city know when its efforts are working and when they’re not.
Responding to allegations from several residents who
interpreted the goal as a "gate" to automobiles entering the
city, Ketchum city administrator Jim Jaquet said: "It’s not an
ordinance; it’s a resolution. It’s not a gate; it’s a policy
[goal]."
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Ketchum postmaster John McDonald told the council that
construction of the city’s new post office at the corner of Second
Avenue and Fourth Street is about two months behind schedule.
The post office was predicted to open in May, but McDonald
said a late-June opening is more likely.
The new post office, which is designed to accommodate
community growth for 20 years, will have about 8,000 post office boxes,
McDonald said. The existing post office has 5,800 boxes.
When the new post office opens, the old one will close,
McDonald said.
The council also questioned McDonald about the prospect of
delivery for Ketchum-area businesses. The idea, council members said,
would be to reduce unnecessary car circulation downtown.
McDonald said, however, that such a system could be
difficult to implement.
"The inherent problems are a mile long," he
said. "Nationally, the trend is to go to post office boxes."
McDonald agreed to research the issue further and return
to the council with his discoveries.
